The 2005NBA draft took place on June 28, 2005, in the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, NBA teams took turns selecting amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, such as players from high schools and non-North American leagues. The NBA announced that 49 college and high school players and 11 international players had filed as early-entry candidates for the draft.[1]

This was the last NBA draft for which high school players were eligible. The new collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players union established a new age limit for draft eligibility. Starting with the 2006 NBA draft, players of any nationality who complete athletic eligibility at a U.S. high school cannot declare themselves eligible for the draft unless they turn 19 no later than December 31 of the year of the draft and are at least one year removed from the graduation of their high school classes. International players, defined in the NBA's collective bargaining agreement as non-US nationals who did not complete athletic eligibility at a U.S. high school, must turn 19 (or older) in the calendar year of the draft, up from 18. As of 2016, the only players to have declared for the NBA draft straight out of high school ever since these restrictions took place were Satnam Singh Bhamara (2015), Thon Maker (2016) , and Anfernee Simons (2018).

^Nationality indicates the player's national team or representative nationality. If a player has not competed at the international level, then the nationality indicates the national team which the player is eligible to represent according to FIBA rules.

Notable undrafted players

These players who declared or were automatically eligible for the 2005 draft, were not selected but have played in the NBA.

Pre-draft trades

Prior to the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of draft picks between the teams.

f Hours before the start of the draft, Utah acquired the 3rd pick from Portland in exchange for the 6th pick, the 27th pick and a 2006 first-round draft pick.[7] Previously, Utah acquired a 2005 first-round draft pick on June 24, 2004, from Dallas in exchange for the draft rights to Pavel Podkolzine.[8] Utah used the 3rd pick to draft Deron Williams and Portland used the 6th and the 27th pick to draft Martell Webster and Linas Kleiza.

g On June 22, 2004, Charlotte acquired Cleveland's first-round draft pick from Phoenix in exchange for an agreement to select Jahidi White in the 2004 Expansion Draft.[9] Previously, Phoenix acquired a 2005 first-round draft pick on October 1, 1997, from Cleveland in a three-team trade with Cleveland and Denver. Charlotte used the 13th pick to draft Sean May